From caterpillar to butterfly: experiencing spirituality via body transformation

ABSTRACT

Consumers increasingly seek out the spiritual to enlighten their inner emptiness and find their inner selves. We add a physiological, embodied perspective, which has been commonly overlooked in extant research as a valuable opportunity for individual consumer spirituality. Interpretative investigation of body-transforming consumers uncovers a powerful reincarnation process that eventually leads to the self-renewal and reunion of body and mind. We find that the consumption of body-transforming substances initiates a mindful, spiritual consumer journey allowing consumers to actively develop and experience their inner spirituality through recurring cycles of reduction, reflection and release. These findings allow us to develop implications for a broader understanding of consumer spirituality where the active consumer seeks unity in the self and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Consumer culture
• consumer psychology
• hermeneutic interpretation
• projective techniques
• spirituality
• transformation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrea Hemetsberger

Andrea Hemetsberger is Full Professor of Branding, Academic Director of the Brand Research Laboratory, and Speaker of the Research Platform Organizations & Society at the University of Innsbruck Faculty of Business and Management, and Visiting Professor at the Universitè Paris-Dauphine. Her research focuses on topics of branding, consumer research, social media and open source. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business Research, Organization Studies, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Journal of Macromarketing, and Management Learning.

Maria Kreuzer

Maria Kreuzer is Affiliate Professor at the International University of Monaco, Lecturer at Innsbruck School of Management, and Brand Consultant at IMARK Strategieberatung. As passionate qualitative researcher she loves conducting research in the fields on branding, consumer experience and identity. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business Research and Psychology & Marketing.

Melanie Klien

Melanie Klien, MSc is Content Manager Social Media and employed by City Culture and Communication Feldkirch GmbH in Austria. Melanie Klien graduated 2010 at the University of Innsbruck as Master in Strategic Management with a specialization in Multicultural Branding. One of her core competencies is in social media. She is also a yoga teacher, mindful travel blogger, and maintains her own blog on Mafambani.com